The event at the BUDZIRKA Space consisted of two thematic parts: a presentation expositions fiber cement panels of the Swiss brand Swisspearl and the actual panel discussion, which was attended by the following speakers: architect, deputy head of the Architectural Chamber of the National Union of Architects of Ukraine Anna Kiriy, architect and urban planner at BURØ, co-founder of the Pro.UD universal design expert center Evgeny Borysenko, as well as a Kyiv monument preservationist and activist Dmytro PerovThe discussion was moderated by PRAGMATIKA.MEDIA journalist Oleksandr DmytrukWe recorded the main points of the discussion and retell them in this material.
A triangle of sadness or drive?
Anna Kyriy has been working in the architectural and construction field for about 20 years. In addition to her professional practice ("Anna Kyriy Architectural and Design Group"), she is actively involved in heritage protection and acts as an ambassador for progressive urban changes in Kyiv and beyond. When asked by journalist Oleksandr Dmytruk whether she has had the opportunity to act as a so-called social moderator and exercise "architectural power" during her career, Kyriy answers:
Participants in the discussion, from left to right: PRAGMATIKA.MEDIA journalist Oleksandr Dmytruk; Deputy Head of the Architectural Chamber of the National Union of Architects of Ukraine Anna Kyriy; Kyiv monument preservationist and activist Dmytro Perov; architect and urban planner at BURØ, co-founder of the Pro.UD expert center for universal design Yevhen Borysenko. Photo: Maksym Drobinenko
"I am first and foremost an architect, this is the most important part of my identity, but at the same time I am a representative of the community. And I, as a representative of the people, am also a bearer of state power. That is, in fact, I embody all these hypostases, but I have no division or dissociation, I feel comfortable in the role of an architect, the community, and the government."
Anna Kyriy: "For an architect to be perceived as a moderator today, his role in society needs to be enhanced"
According to Anna Kyriy, the process of communication between the architect, the community, and the authorities should not be called a "triangle of sadness." On the contrary, the interaction of these three stakeholders is dynamic and active, and its result is often optimal solutions for the community.
It is fair to add another stakeholder to this geometric figure - the developer, noted architect Yevhen Borysenko: "After all, business, in my opinion, is the largest and most influential stakeholder in all urban processes today. And, unfortunately, we, architects and the community, cannot fully influence these processes, because very often the conditions are dictated by business, that is, developers."
Deputy Chairman of the Architectural Chamber of the National Union of Architects of Ukraine Anna Kyriy. Photo: Maksym Drobinenko
Anna Kyriy supported Borysenko's thesis: in her opinion, the influence of developers in Kyiv and other cities of Ukraine is unprecedented today, while the role of the architect in society is being leveled: "Our role has been reduced to a minimum. Sorry, but we are being ignored. In order for an architect to be perceived as a moderator today, his role in society needs to be somehow increased. We need the architect to have weight again. To do this, developers must value the intellectual profession and work. Unfortunately, I do not see this happening now."
Borysenko added that one way to reincarnate the influence of the architectural profession is for architects themselves to initiate and advocate for proper urban processes. This can be done through the activities of public organizations - as an example, he cited the Urban Reform project, which was led by an architect. Oleksandr NaryzhnaUrban Reform collaborates with various cities and makes them more modern and comfortable for living.
Community opinion that cannot be ignored
The "triangle of sadness" and the discrediting of the status of an architect in Ukraine did not appear immediately. Anna Kyriy explains that this was caused by the so-called urban planning reform, adopted in 2011 during the Yanukovych era. It was this reform that was the first major blow to democratic processes urban development, because it abolished mandatory urban planning councils and approval of projects with the city, introduced private expertise and imposed personal responsibility for design decisions on architects. As a result, developers gained more influence and leverage for decision-making, while architects were given the role of utilitarian engineers.
The 2011 reform also only increased the level of corruption in the urban planning sector, Kyriy believes. And all this was made possible thanks to the powerful development lobby in parliament, the architect is convinced.
The discussion "The Triangle of Sorrow: Architect, Community, Government" was held in the BUDZIRKA Space, where an exhibition of fiber cement panels from the Swiss brand Swisspearl also took place. Photo: Maksym Drobinenko
"I still remember those wonderful times before 2011, when, in order to allocate a land plot in Kyiv, it was necessary to develop an urban planning justification along with an architectural solution, print it out and submit it to the urban planning council so that colleagues and the city authorities could look at it, but what does the developer plan to do on this land plot? And this is only at the land allocation stage; at the design stage, urban planning councils were held, and every Kyiv resident could come and see how this or that object in the city would be designed and built," says Kyriy and adds that it was the "Yanukovych reform" that launched anti-development protests as a phenomenon. In fact, they became an alternative expression of public will. After all, the community learns about the construction of a new object only after the construction fence appears. Information and all safeguards at the previous stages - from allocating a land plot to obtaining a building permit - are virtually absent from the legislation.
Public activist, lawyer and co-founder of the NGO "Heritage" Dmytro Perov has been protecting historical heritage in Kyiv since 2015. Photo: Maksym Drobinenko
So is there a place in the "triangle of sadness" for the community and how can it influence what is happening in the city today? The moderator addressed this question to Dmytro Perov, an activist, lawyer, and co-founder of the NGO "Heritage", who has been protecting historical architecture in Kyiv since 2015. Dmytro is convinced that even despite the cancellation of mandatory public discussions, communication between the community and developers exists, but in a different "format":
"Public opinion will always be taken into account. The question is in what form: in the form of dialogue, when these are public hearings, a process of collecting opinions and attempts to find understanding, or in the form of aggression, protest, as, for example, happened with "Flowers of Ukraine", when the developer installed a fence without asking anyone and began to destroy the building. Then the public came and stopped the excavator. In fact, this is also a form of communication, it is also a response and request of society. There are cases when the community wins, there are cases when the developer wins. But still, this public interest finds its expression. Either in dialogue or in resistance."
Kyiv residents surrounded construction equipment during the dismantling of the modernist building "Flowers of Ukraine", July 2021. Photo: Wikimedia
Perov calls the current communicative process in Kyiv a “worldview war.” And the only real tool in this “war” that the community has preserved is petitions to the city authorities or to the President of Ukraine. Perov says that petitions are actually a powerful tool, because they show a public demand that is becoming an increasingly weighty argument for developers: “The preservation of a building in the city center is not my private legal interest, not the interest of some handful of marginalized people. This is a public demand of at least six thousand Kyivans. If this is a petition to the president, then 25 thousand citizens. These are huge communities that show their position and declare their values in this way. And when the developers say, they say: “Oh, they created a petition there, there might be a problem, who is behind this?” The community is behind this.”
Dmytro Perov: "Public opinion will always be taken into account. The question is, in what form: in the form of dialogue or in the form of aggression, protest?"
In the activist's opinion, in addition to architects and residents, urbanists should also be added to the "polygon" of urban processes today - they can be the moderators who study and research the community's requests and broadcast them to architects and authorities. In general, urban policy should be multi-vector and aimed not only at the construction of new facilities, believes Dmytro. And the activist still advises combining the relationships of all participants - developers, architects, urbanists, townspeople and city authorities - in a harmonious symbiosis, that is, to return public hearings.
In the photo: Oleksandr Dmytruk, Anna Kyriy, Dmytro Perov and Yevhen Borisenko. Anna Kyriy: “Now our triangle is very unbalanced in favor of the developer.” Photo: Maksym Drobinenko
In order for all these parties to find a common language, we need to reboot urban planning legislation, adds Anna Kyriy. This task was taken on by the developers of the Urban Planning Code in 2023, led by People's Deputy Hanna Bondar. Anna Kyriy is also involved in the development of the document as a member of the Union of Architects. She emphasizes that the main task of the Code is to make the main person in the city not the developer, but each resident.
"Now our triangle — or polygon, it doesn't matter — is very unbalanced in favor of the developer. And therefore it needs to be balanced by really giving more rights to architects, in particular, by strengthening the role of the chief architects of cities, but the key stakeholder in the Urban Planning Code is defined as the resident, citizen, Ukrainian," Kyriy emphasizes.
Inclusion and cultural contrasts
War as a key driver of change in cities and society generates another demand - for inclusion and barrier-free public spaces. In recent years, since the beginning of the invasion, this topic has become the central discourse of most official events, even at the highest level. However, we have not yet seen any real changes in urban space. Why is this?
Yevhen Borisenko believes that business is ahead of the state in issues of inclusion. Photo: Maksym Drobinenko
Yevhen Borisenko, co-founder of the Pro.UD expert center for universal design, believes that we still lack the systematic and expert experience to implement full inclusion: the accumulation of this knowledge base, which everyone will then work with, is currently underway. At the same time, Borisenko admits that the state, compared to business, is really slowing down in this issue:
"Business was the first to come to us as a public organization. Because business counts money and understands: if employees or clients, including veterans returning from war with injuries, do not have barrier-free access, then the business will lose money, and now also its reputation. Entrepreneurs really stimulate the development of barrier-free access to a large extent," says Borysenko and adds that Lviv is a positive exception among Ukrainian cities. "Changes began there a long time ago precisely in the physical space of the city, because, firstly, civil society is more active there, and secondly, Lviv has a much larger concentration of institutions, including rehabilitation centers, which are precisely the drivers of inclusive transformations. Also, in my opinion, in Lviv, city administration employees really deal with barrier-free issues, and do their work "for show", as in many Ukrainian cities."
"We have to go through everything that our neighbors went through from 1918 to 1939, in two, three, four, maximum five years," — Dmitry Perov
The topic of contrasts between aggressive and inaccessible Kyiv and historical and cultural Lviv raised the level of discussion and once again raised the important question of the role of the architect in the city. Anna Kyriy pointed out another striking difference between Lviv and Kyiv, namely the problem of property copyrights of architects. According to her, the Kyiv developer seeks to appropriate these rights for himself, while developers in Lviv do not.
"Where does our developer have such a desire to necessarily take the architect's copyright? Let's understand the nature of this story. In my opinion, the problem should be considered primarily in a cultural context. This difference, in my opinion, was caused by the fact that we (Kyiv. — Editor's note.") were under the "sow" a little longer than Lviv, and this really left a difficult cultural imprint, including on the issue of copyright."
Inclusive transport hub at the intersection of Stepana Bandera and Henerala Chuprynka streets in Lviv. Photo: Lviv City Council
"If we want our monuments not only to be preserved, but also to create new ones, then every architect must design his object so that it later becomes a monument. And this is possible only with respect for the architect's copyright," emphasizes Anna Kyriy.
Finalizing the discussion, the moderator asked each speaker to voice a vision or scenario that would help our city break the "triangle of sadness" and build a functional figure symbolizing healthy relationships.
Anna Kyriy believes that “we need to overcome the past” and reflect on our post-totalitarian trauma by working with the cultural and social aspects of urban development. She also believes that urban planning legislation should be brought into order — this is the main task of the Urban Planning Code, which is currently being developed.
"Everyone in their place should do their job well. Architects should not design bad objects, should not make a deal with their conscience. Business should also understand that high-quality, good architecture is about money. And building as quickly and cheaply as possible is not something that will bring long-term investments. I believe that we have business representatives who realize the value of aesthetics and good architecture. We all need to remember that there is dignity and a worthy path," Kyriy noted.
Yevhen Borisenko: "The developer will not be able to dictate his conditions when there are several players on the market who will have subjectivity." Photo: Maksym Drobinenko
Yevhen Borysenko appealed to European experience: he believes that Ukrainians should adopt the experience of EU cities, in which housing is built not only by developers, but also by municipalities and so-called cooperatives: "These are not the cooperatives that we know from the Soviet past. These are not the condominiums that we are creating now. These are cooperatives when people come together to build their own housing. They look for a plot of land, an architect, and actually independently moderate all these processes for themselves. That is, they also become developers to a certain extent to build their own housing. So, there are several players on the market: the state builds housing, cooperatives, and construction companies. And then the developer cannot dictate his conditions. It's about subjectivity."
The discussion "The Triangle of Sorrow: Architect, Community, Government" was held in the BUDZIRKA Space, where an exhibition of fiber cement panels from the Swiss brand Swisspearl also took place. Photo: Maksym Drobinenko
Activist Dmitry Perov expressed himself more radically: in his opinion, we need quick changes here and now, because in conditions of war we do not have time for natural evolutionary processes.
"We can only develop revolutionaryly, because we see what threat hangs over Ukrainian statehood today. We must go through everything that our neighbors went through in the period from 1918 to 1939, in two, three, four, maximum five years. Because there simply will be no Ukrainian statehood. My futuristic forecast: in the next 5 years, one player should appear who will be different from the others, who will try to create some kind of conceptual architecture and conceptual development. So far, we do not have such," Perov summed up.
